different between comedy vs harlequinade

English

Alternative forms

• comedie (archaic, often affected as such for humorous effect)
• comœdie (obsolete)
• comœdy (archaic)

Etymology

First attested in 1374. From Old French comedie, from Latin c?moedia, from Ancient Greek ??????? (k?m?idía), from ????? (kômos, “revel, carousing”) + either ??? (?id?, “song”) or ?????? (aoidós, “singer, bard”), both from ????? (aeíd?, “I sing”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k?m?di/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?m?di/
• Hyphenation: com?e?dy

Noun

comedy (countable and uncountable, plural comedies)

1. (countable, historical) A choric song of celebration or revel, especially in Ancient Greece.
2. (countable) A light, amusing play with a happy ending.
3. (countable, Medieval Europe) A narrative poem with an agreeable ending (e.g., The Divine Comedy).
4. (countable, drama) A dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone.
5. (drama) The genre of such works.
6. (uncountable) Entertainment composed of jokes, satire, or humorous performance.

   Why would you be watching comedy when there are kids starving right now?

7. The art of composing comedy.
8. (countable) A humorous event.

Antonyms

• drama
• tragedy

Derived terms

Related terms

• comic
• ode

Translations

References

• comedy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• comedy at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

From French arlequinade.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /h??l?kw??ne?d/
• Rhymes: -e?d

Noun

harlequinade (plural harlequinades)

1. A pantomime-like comedy featuring the harlequin or clown.
2. Any comical or fantastical procedure or playfulness.
   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 154:

     Away up the gorge all diurnal fancies trooped into the wide liberties of endless luminous vistas of azure sunlit mountains beneath the shining azure heavens, the ranges and valleys changing with every mood of the atmosphere, with the harlequinade of the clouds and the wind.

Translations

See also

• commedia dell'arte